Online advertisers will soon be able to target existing customers via Google’s wide range of services. Customer Match, which was announced last week, is designed to let businesses use a list of email addresses to target people across search, remarketing channels, and more. The system requires that users are logged into their Google account, and that they have given their email address to an online retailer (even if it was given as part of the purchase process).

Three Simple Steps

Create a Search Network only ad campaign that targets the specific list.

From there, any customers on the list who are logged into Google (and have the same email address associated with their Google account) will see your ads.

According to Google, when you upload an email list it’s used only to match Google IDs and is deleted seven days after matching.

Perhaps a more cost effective way to remarket?

With typical remarketing campaigns, you’re paying for targeting people who have previously visited your site. That can be a pretty broad number, and it’s easy to invest a great deal of cash into this action. With Customer Match, the idea is that you target people who have already bought from you. Granted, some retailers will shove anyone who contacts them onto a list, but that’s not the goal here. Instead, Google is hoping you’ll focus on actual customers or others who have expressed real interest in your products.